LAHORE, Sept 24: Punjab Culture Minister Shaukat Ali Bhatti and other MPAs who have resigned said here on Wednesday that a process had been started for bringing about a change in the country and a lot could happen during the next few days.

Talking to reporters at the Punjab Assembly, Mr Bhatti and Dr Muzaffar Ali Sheikh nevertheless said they were soldiers of President Gen Pervez Musharraf and had resigned from the assembly because of differences with the policies of rulers in Punjab.

They said they would call on the president on his return from the US to explain the real situation to him.

They said if one wanted to check the ground realities one must check the record of PML-Q parliamentary meetings as it would show all MPAs’ show of no-confidence against the government. “Our expectations about the assembly remain unfulfilled. We are not afraid of any files because we have always followed clean politics.”

Dr Sheikh said the MPAs had resigned because the government had no writ and the MPAs no authority.

Replying to a question on whether they had been approached by another political party, they said doors were not closed in politics. They said they were not afraid of victimization and the threat of “opening our files cannot make us withdraw our resignations”.

They said they had developed differences with the government from the very beginning because it had failed to establish its writ. “We gave time to the government but the conditions never improved.”

They said they had tendered their resignations on their own and were not motivated by any institution.

When asked whether the downfall of the provincial government had started, they said everything could be clarified after checking the minutes of parliamentary party meetings.

They said they would return to the assembly after contesting the by-election if their resignations were accepted. And if not they would continue to occupy the treasury benches with an independent stance. “All options regarding our future course of action are open.”

They said the provincial law minister had approached them for a dialogue, which was not objectionable.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters, Acting Speaker Sardar Shaukat Mazari said he had not received resignations of the provincial assembly members.